Vapor electric apparatus.



J. Is I-Ii DEIVIPSTBI. VAPOR ELECTRIC APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APRA, 1904 96%972 Patsued June 28, 1910.

mia/'EM T0@ Q /fJ/j narran sacarse retratar orarie SOHN T. E. DEMPSTER, D?? SCHENECT DY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 GENERA; ELEG* 'ERIC COMPANY, A

EPURATION OF NEW' YORK.

Veron ELECTRIC Arrasarts.

To alt whom it may concern.'

Be it known that i, JOHN T. H. Denrs'rrn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Schenectady, in the county of Schenectady and State of New York, have invented certain new and uset'ul improvements in Vapor Electric Apparatus, of which the :toliowing is a specification.

tiiy present-invention relates to vaporelectric devices and more especially to the construction and arrangement ot electrodes for use in such devices.

One of the objects of my invention is the production of an electrode which during normal operation shall remain relatively cool. accomplish this result by rapidly conducting away the heat generated at the electrode and preferably by utiiizing this heat to volatilize a suitable iiuid contained in the apparatus. 'the temperature of the electrode is thus maintained, within a eertain degree of approximation, at the temerature of volatilization ot the tiuid..

The features ot' novelty which charac-terize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the appended claims. yl`he invention itself, however, will be better understood by reference to the following description talterin connection with the accompanying drawings which represent, by way oic illustration, one or' the numerous forms which my invention may assume in practice.

In the drawings I have represented my invention as applied to a mercury vapor lamp but it is to be understood that its various features are applicable in numerous other relations, as for example, in vapor electric rectiiers or the like.

The envelop ot' the lamp consists of a tube 1 of glass or other suitable material, ot indefinite length, and provided at some suitable point, as for example at the top of the lam i, with an enlargement 3 constituting a condensing chamber for the vapor generated in the lamp during operation. 'ihe anode or positive electrode 'which l use in the lamp is of novel construction and consists, in one of its forms, of a cup-shaped body i of artificial graphite or carbon or of some metal as iron or platinum. A central projection 4.- t'orming a part ot' the electrode serves as a means of attachment to the supporting conductor 5 which extends through the upper wall of the condensing chamber Q at (5 where it 'forms one ot the terminals of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application tiled April 4, 1904.

Patented Enne 2%, Militia.

seran no. 201,488.

tectiiw tube or jacket-1' of glass, the Alower end o which overlaps the upper end ofthe projection 4t. The portion of the oletrode 5 thus surrounded by the tube may if desired bcptormed ot iron and may be Welded to a platinum wire passing through the upper wall of the envelop 2, which platinum wire constitutes the leading in conductor.

A body of mercury 8 is Llocated in the lower end of the tube l and 1n a contracted extension 9 thereof and constitutes the ne ativc electrode orcathode of the lamp. gin this body of mercury tioats a submergible iron armature or core 10, thc upper end of which is hollowed out as indicated by the dotted lines 11. A lament of carbon or other suitable material 12 is supported as shown from the lower end oit' electrode 3 and dips at its lower end into a body of mercury contained in the cup l1 in the top of the plunger or core 10. Guides or centering de- .vices 13, 14 and 1&5 hold the tilament from lateral displacement.

ri'ihe solenoid 1G connected as shown in series with the lamp .operates when energized to submerge the plunger or corev 10, and in doing so to lower the mercury carried thereby out ot contact with the lower end of the filament l2 and thus start the are or current tlow in the lamp in a manner now Well understood.

When the lamp is in operation mercury vapor generated from the cathode is condensed in the chamber 2 in the usual manner in the form ot globules. The anode 3 is arranged just below the mouth of the. condensing chamber 2, which at this point is somewhat contracted, and thus receives the mercury globules as they roll down the sides of the condensing chamber into the opening into the main tube l, The annular depression formed in the top of the anode 3 is thus kept filled with the products of condensation of thc vapor generated in the main tube l.o The heat generated at the anode operates by conduction through the body ot' the anode to boil or vaporize the annular body ot' mercury 17 retained by the anode. Any undue rise in temperature ot the anode is immediately checked as it were by an absorption of the heat by the annular body of mercury and a consequent Vaporization of the same. The mercury vaporized at the two electrodes of the lamp iscondcnsed in the chamber 2, and automatically keeps'the anode supplied Witt mercury, while any excess over that necesv sary to fill the annular cup in the anode flows over the side of the anode and is returned to the cathode.

It is obvious that numerous changes may be made in the details of the embodiments of my invention Without departing from the spirit thereof, for Which reason I do not Wish to be limited to the precise arrangements shown and described.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, i's,

1. In a Vapor electric apparatus, the coinbination of a vaporizable electrode, a solid electrode, and means for applying to the solid electrode condensed matter given ott' by Vaporization from the Vaporizable electrode.

2. In a vapor electric apparatus, the combination of a container, a vaporizable electrode in said container, and a fluid retaining solid electrode also in said container, the fluid retaining portion of said solid electrode communicating with the space in which the vaporizable electrode is located.

3. In a vapor electric apparatus, the cornbination of a vaporizable electrode, a fluidretaining solid electrode, and means for con ducting products of condensation'from the vaporizable electrode to the iuid-retaining ehanfber of the solid electrode.

4. In a Vapor electric apparatus, the combination of a condensing chamber forming a part of the container of the apparatus, a vaporizable electrode, and a Huid-retaining solid electrode located so as to intercept products of condensation in their return. from the condensing chamber to the vaporizable electrode of the apparatus.

5. In a vapor electric apparatus, the combination of a vaporizable electrode, and a solid electrode located in the same space as the vaporizable elect-rode and cooled by contact with fluid of the same character as that of the vaporizable electrode, and which at times forms a part of said vaporizable electrode.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of April, 1904.

JOHN T. H. DEMPSTER.

Titnesses BENJAMXN B. HULL, HELEN ORFORD. 

